Montessori SafariLTD Australian Animals

Montessori-inspired SafariLTD Australian animals recycled DIY sensory small world play is designed for preschoolers and kindergartners to promote fine motor control and cognitive development.

Recycled DIY sensory invitations to play are a great way to reuse what you have and consume less of what is available. In fact, sensory play is extremely important for children since by manipulating different textures and fillers, children trigger various senses. Actually, while triggering sensory stimuli, neurons fire multiple signals, spurring neuroplasticity and strengthening neuron connectivity. In fact, neuroplasticity, which is the production of new neuronal connections and new neurons themselves, in turn, increases the brain’s agility. As such, research in neuroscience and cognitive development confirms Dr. Montessori’s notion that “what the hand does, the mind remembers.” So, with Montessori-Inspired SafariLTD Australian Animals small world play, your child can explore, touch, and manipulate, thus increasing brain agility and spurring cognitive growth! Besides, sensorial invitations to play are easy to clean up since everything is contained in a tub, tin, box, or any other container.

RECYCLED DIY TPR Australian Animals HOTEL

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We love repurposing and reusing! So, creating a “hotel” for our Australian animal friends from recycled toilet paper rolls is extremely fun and productive! Most importantly, recycled DIY sensory play and recycled crafts are such an amazing way to increase awareness of our human footprint and engage your child in helping reduce what we use and reuse what we have!

WHAT you will need for this Recycled DIY:

HOW to present this Montessori-Inspired Australian Animals DIY:

First, collect your recycled TPRs and hot glue them tightly next to each other into a shoebox. (You might want to glue the ones on the perimeter to the shoe box as well for stability.) Next, assign each animal a “room” inside of your DIY TPR hotel. And, to simulate a hot desert environment so prevalent in Australia, I am using dried chickpeas to resemble the sand and dunes. Discuss the types of habitats each animal lives in while naming each animal and noticing its distinct characteristics. As a reference, we are using Maps book, which is an amazing resource!

AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS SNACK TRAY

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Another fun way to explore animals and their respective habitats is by creating a small world invitation to play. So, here, we are using a serving plate kitchen hack while exploring Australian animals with @safariltd TOOBs.

WHAT you will need for this Small World Play:

HOW to present this Montessori-Inspired Australian Animals Tray:

First, think of the habitats you would like to create. I gathered grains from around the kitchen such as green lentils, dried chickpeas, and rice, all of which have seen its expiration date, thus not being suitable for consumption. (I am very reluctant to use “good” food for play.) For example, you can create a desert sand environment from rice or chickpeas, Australian plateaus from red lentils and so forth. I am also using pebbles from the beach to create a shoreline environment for the platypus and blue-dyed rice as water.

What is Sensorial Work?

The purpose and aim of the sensorial work is for a child to acquire clear and conscious information to be able to then make classifications in his/her environment. Dr. Maria Montessori believed that sensorial experiences began at birth. Through the senses, the child studies his/her environment a, thus beginning to understand it. “We discovered that education is not something which the teacher does, but that it is a natural process which develops spontaneously in the human being. It is not acquired by listening to words but in virtue of experiences in which the child acts on his environment. The teacher’s task is not to talk, but to prepare and arrange a series of motives for cultural activity in a special environment made for the child.” – Maria Montessori.

Safari Ltd Toys That Teach:

Remember, children are learning by doing! Most importantly, they cannot learn what they have not been given a chance to experience! For example, children need to touch, manipulate, transfer, and squeeze! So, offer them beautiful replicas Toys That Teach and get 20% OFF your ENTIRE ORDER – purchase HERE!! Besides, through these hands-on sensorial invitations to play and explore, you are setting multidimensional real-life opportunities to learn! Most importantly, these simple to set up learning opportunities will affect the long-term cognitive, social and physical development of your child!

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With the highest regard, this is a sponsored post with Safari Ltd. All opinions are my own and from the heart! Besides, I am so excited to collaborate with this amazing team that brings Toys That Teach to our children! You can read more about Safari Ltd ’s mission of “educating children about the importance of nature and its conservation through the joy of play” here.